It was an early start, but thankfully we didn't have to break down our tent
before breakfasts or the jeep safari.
Early morning game drives are worth the early alarms & it's so nice to be in the fresh, very crisp pre dawn air. Bundled up in our thickest jumpers & beanies, Watching the sun rise as a glowing ball of fire in the sky.
Our first elephant sighting was 2 female elephants & 1 baby that they were guarding. We noticed one was tusk less & were told some of the females here have a genetic deformity/adaption & they never grow tusks. This genetic deformity/ adaption skips a generation & only affects the females. It has its advantages because they are worthless to the poachers. We would see another herd of 2 females, both with babies of different sizes. A huge herd in the distance of approximately 8 large females & some babies. After the elephants we saw a reticulated Giraffe from far away, hiding behind the elephant herd & another one later on that crossed the road ahead of us.
We saw a type of antelope called a Puku which is the 2nd most common Antelope & bigger than Impala. We first saw them in a large bachelorette herd but would continue to see them throughout the game drive & in mixed herds with the impala. We saw some Wart hogs from a distance, partially hidden in grass & some more hours later that crossed the road ahead of us.
Sadly, we saw a dead elephant near the river. It had died very recently & it was guessed some time in the early hours of the morning. Because of the lack of fellow herd members who would normally be mourning a loss & still be with the body, it was guessed to be a lone male. Thankfully it still had its tusks & therefore its death wasn't from poachers. It didn't appear to have any trauma or injuries & our guide suggested illness, old age or snake bite. A few people on the jeep were whinging about the fact we were allowed to take photos of it & that the jeep had stopped. For us, it was just a relief to see tusk's & to not have stumbled across a kill from a poacher. Death is a natural part of life & Africa has a raw & uninhibited way of showing you both sides of the circle of life. We would also see some elephant bones in the park a few hours later. Based on what we were told & saw, the elephant population in the park is very strong, having some die here, naturally is a very good thing.
Our highlight of the week & a top contender for highlight of the continent was a leopard sighting !!! And not just a hint of spots disappearing through long grass, a large adult leopard calmly sleeping under a tree next to the road! It was absolutely gorgeous & we feel incredibly lucky to have seen it looking so healthy & happy. We moved around it in the jeep taking close to 300 photos in 10 minutes, it was really close, we didn't need binoculars or to zoom on our camera's. It looked up a few times, but always managed to never look directly at us or our camera lenses. Even without a direct shot of it's face, the photos don't fail to show off how brilliant it's spots are, how sleek it's fur is & how muscly it is. We are now in the small percentage of people who visit Africa & can say they have seen the big 5 in the wild!
About 500 meters away from the leopard there was a single female lion lying under a bush. She was partially obscured by the shade & not happy about being found. There was already 3 jeeps blocking her in from wither side of the bush & we could hear her displeasure. Our guide, heard her & told us we wouldn't be going near her and adding to her stress. I really admire him for telling a carload of 16 tourists that we would not get near a stressed animal to try and take photos. i wish that all people would have this mentality when dealing with animals & tourists.
We saw a few small herds of Zebra that were a subspecies & found only in this national park along with a few other places. They were a lot smaller than the ones we saw in the Serengetti & had very petite faces. We saw some Buffalo grazing in the distance & a few Squirrel's up in trees. When we briefly stopped by the river at 9am to stretch our legs & drink a cup of tea, we saw some mongoose running around among the tree roots at the rivers edge.
We were lucky again in the big cat department & spotted 2 adolescent male lions who had killed a buffalo overnight & were resting after eating. They had both just started to grow manes & reach the age where they became a threat to their father, who is the dominant male of their own pride & were kicked out. They were very close to the road & we had great photo opportunities before they got annoyed by the approach of 4 more jeeps & moved behind a bush. The carcass was lying close by & we got to see some Vultures eating it & view the destructive power of the lions jaws on the flesh of the buffalo's hind legs & pelvis.
After 4 hours of game driving we exited the national park & headed back to camp. At the exit gate we saw another large herd of elephants that had 6 adults, presumably females. Their was one who was particularly large & had very big tusks.
Unfortunately this was all the excitement for today. It was an early lunch & time to pack up before we got back on the bus & drove for 5 hours to our next campsite. Tom used this opportunity to take some pictures out of the bus window, while I napped.
We arrived at our campsite just after 5pm & set our tent up. We were surprised to see an emu in an enclosure at the back of the campsite. He looked very happy & interactive when approached by us, but unfortunately he was behind 2 more fences & our interaction was very limited.
We went to sleep dreaming of our accomplishments in the big five department!
- Alli
before breakfasts or the jeep safari.
Early morning game drives are worth the early alarms & it's so nice to be in the fresh, very crisp pre dawn air. Bundled up in our thickest jumpers & beanies, Watching the sun rise as a glowing ball of fire in the sky.
It was incredibly orange today & we were so excited about the animals we might see. The national park is famous for hippos, crocodiles, elephants, lions, African wild dogs (some people know them as painted dogs) & leopards. To see an elusive leopard or a pack of African wild dogs would be so special. The African Wild dog population is currently critically low & they may even become extinct soon. This may be our last chance to see them. They were one of few animals I didn't manage to see on my last visit. Fingers cross for this trip & today!
We started off on a good foot & nearly immediately saw Hippo's in the river as we drove over the bridge & into the park. We would continue to see them throughout the park wallowing in the water & we were really lucky to stumble across one sun baking out of the water & very close to the jeep track. Unfortunately the arrival of the jeep disturbed it & it got up, attempted to hide in some bushes before running away. We saw plenty of crocodiles on the river banks & baboons running around on the ground & in the trees. The further south we go, the bigger & bolder the baboons are getting.
We saw our first Kudu of the trip, a very proud solo male with fantastic cork screw horns. We would also see a herd of females later on. We saw some Egyptian ducks flying overhead, a type of spoon bill, horn bill & many large cranes. There was also some smaller, pretty coloured finches in a bush. 
Our first elephant sighting was 2 female elephants & 1 baby that they were guarding. We noticed one was tusk less & were told some of the females here have a genetic deformity/adaption & they never grow tusks. This genetic deformity/ adaption skips a generation & only affects the females. It has its advantages because they are worthless to the poachers. We would see another herd of 2 females, both with babies of different sizes. A huge herd in the distance of approximately 8 large females & some babies. After the elephants we saw a reticulated Giraffe from far away, hiding behind the elephant herd & another one later on that crossed the road ahead of us.
We saw a type of antelope called a Puku which is the 2nd most common Antelope & bigger than Impala. We first saw them in a large bachelorette herd but would continue to see them throughout the game drive & in mixed herds with the impala. We saw some Wart hogs from a distance, partially hidden in grass & some more hours later that crossed the road ahead of us.
Our highlight of the week & a top contender for highlight of the continent was a leopard sighting !!! And not just a hint of spots disappearing through long grass, a large adult leopard calmly sleeping under a tree next to the road! It was absolutely gorgeous & we feel incredibly lucky to have seen it looking so healthy & happy. We moved around it in the jeep taking close to 300 photos in 10 minutes, it was really close, we didn't need binoculars or to zoom on our camera's. It looked up a few times, but always managed to never look directly at us or our camera lenses. Even without a direct shot of it's face, the photos don't fail to show off how brilliant it's spots are, how sleek it's fur is & how muscly it is. We are now in the small percentage of people who visit Africa & can say they have seen the big 5 in the wild!
About 500 meters away from the leopard there was a single female lion lying under a bush. She was partially obscured by the shade & not happy about being found. There was already 3 jeeps blocking her in from wither side of the bush & we could hear her displeasure. Our guide, heard her & told us we wouldn't be going near her and adding to her stress. I really admire him for telling a carload of 16 tourists that we would not get near a stressed animal to try and take photos. i wish that all people would have this mentality when dealing with animals & tourists.
We saw a few small herds of Zebra that were a subspecies & found only in this national park along with a few other places. They were a lot smaller than the ones we saw in the Serengetti & had very petite faces. We saw some Buffalo grazing in the distance & a few Squirrel's up in trees. When we briefly stopped by the river at 9am to stretch our legs & drink a cup of tea, we saw some mongoose running around among the tree roots at the rivers edge.
We were lucky again in the big cat department & spotted 2 adolescent male lions who had killed a buffalo overnight & were resting after eating. They had both just started to grow manes & reach the age where they became a threat to their father, who is the dominant male of their own pride & were kicked out. They were very close to the road & we had great photo opportunities before they got annoyed by the approach of 4 more jeeps & moved behind a bush. The carcass was lying close by & we got to see some Vultures eating it & view the destructive power of the lions jaws on the flesh of the buffalo's hind legs & pelvis.
After 4 hours of game driving we exited the national park & headed back to camp. At the exit gate we saw another large herd of elephants that had 6 adults, presumably females. Their was one who was particularly large & had very big tusks.
Unfortunately this was all the excitement for today. It was an early lunch & time to pack up before we got back on the bus & drove for 5 hours to our next campsite. Tom used this opportunity to take some pictures out of the bus window, while I napped.
We arrived at our campsite just after 5pm & set our tent up. We were surprised to see an emu in an enclosure at the back of the campsite. He looked very happy & interactive when approached by us, but unfortunately he was behind 2 more fences & our interaction was very limited.
We went to sleep dreaming of our accomplishments in the big five department!
- Alli
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